New home, new book

My poor blog has been a little neglected in recent months. Mainly due to moving house, and the day to day juggling of writing and mothering that I'm still working on balancing (what IS the trick? If you've got it figured then DO TELL. I wrote about the subject of managing offspring - both books and babies - for Book Slam recently, and you can read it HERE). Today - the 27th May - is the three month marker for my new novel, The Sea Between Us, coming out, so with that wind in my sails, with that super light on the horizon, here are a couple of updates…

In April we moved house. Apart from all the excitement of owning our first home (after many years of renting we can finally go wild with the Blu-tack - walls watch out!), I'm also a little giddy at being the proprietor of my very own writing hut. While elsewhere in the house there are still many unpacked boxes, early on I spent a happy afternoon making my hut ship-shape and fit for my purpose. Here's a glimpse… 

The only kicker is that the hut is right on 'CJ's lawn'… so I'll have to learn to resist the temptation of hanging out with him instead of working...

…but when interruptions are this cute, well, who even WANTS to resist?

There was another knock at my door earlier, and it was another welcome diversion. A big box of finished copies of the trade paperback of The Sea Between Us. This edition is bound for Australia and New Zealand and beyond - it's basically a chunky, slightly larger version of the mass market paperback that'll be out in the UK in three months. It is a BEAUTY - big thanks to my publisher Headline for making it look so divine. The title is picked out in gorgeous coppery foil, and there's a splendid driftwood effect on the spine. I love a bit of driftwood, me. I'm also thrilled to bits that the generous words of author Lucy Clarke adorn the cover - 'an utterly beautiful story'. I'm a big fan of Lucy's books - she has a new one out this summer too - The Blue - I've read an early copy and can confirm that it is FAB. 

What else? Well, between decking out my writing hut and getting increasingly excited about the forthcoming publication of The Sea Between Us, I've been trying to lose myself in the writing of a new book. It's early days, but I've a stack of notebooks full of scribbles and am just feeling my way into the first draft. At this point it feels a little like an awkward dance, one where we're both trying to learn the steps, still unsure of who's supposed to be leading. We haven't quite found our rhythm yet, but I'm not worried. I know we'll get there in the end, this new book and me, because I've felt the SPARK. And right now, so early in our lives together, the spark is what it's all about.